What is the SEC Whistleblower Program?

If you have knowledge of violations of securities laws or of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, you might qualify for a reward under the SEC Whistleblower Program.

In July 2010, Congress passed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act—popularly known as the Dodd-Frank Act — as part of a massive overhaul of the nation’s financial regulatory system.

As part of a comprehensive program to ensure corporate accountability and compliance, this Act created important new incentive programs to reward and protect individuals who report violations of the laws that govern a wide range of activities in the financial markets and in the activities of U.S. companies doing business abroad.

The SEC Whistleblower Office, which was created by the Dodd-Frank Act, provides awards of 10 to 30 percent of the amount of sanctions and penalties the SEC imposes on wrongdoers as a result of a whistleblower’s information. The SEC has already paid out several very large awards, including one in the amount of $30 million and another of $14 million.

Katz, Marshall & Banks has extensive experience representing whistleblowers in the SEC Whistleblower Program, and the tips we and our clients have submitted has resulted in successful SEC enforcement actions. Our attorneys have spoken on continuing legal education panels and developed a strong collaborative relationship with the leadership of the SEC Whistleblower Office and the SEC Enforcement Division. We have also alerted the commission to the growing number of unlawful tactics used by employers to silence whistleblowers, and are working with commission staff to identify and neutralize those tactics.

As a result, our firm is a known and respected entity at the SEC for its representation of whistleblowers, and the tips that we submit are treated seriously. We represent whistleblowers who wish to provide information regarding securities violations or foreign bribes to the SEC, as well as whistleblowers who have already submitted their tips and need representation in an SEC investigation or in claiming an award. The attorneys at Katz, Marshall & Banks began earning national recognition for their representation of whistleblowers in the corporate finance, accounting and the financial markets starting in 2002, when Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act with strong protections for employees who reported fraud on shareholders or other violations of federal securities laws. This decade and one-half of experience has provided our attorneys with a deep understanding of financial fraud and securities violations, and has allowed them to simultaneously represent whistleblowers in submitting their tips to the SEC and in winning compensation for employer retaliation through the whistleblower-protection provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Act and various state-law counterparts.

If you have information you would like to provide to the SEC — or if you have provided such information to the SEC or your employer and were retaliated against as a result — contact our experienced whistleblower attorneys. Your communications with us are confidential and without charge or further obligation.

To learn more about SEC Whistleblowers & KMB Legal view the following: